Katatonia - Viva Emptiness Review

Katatonia Viva Emptiness

full review

Tracklist:
1. Ghost of the Sun
2. Sleeper
3. Criminals
4. A Premonition
5. Will I Arrive
6. Burn the Remembrance
7. Wealth
8. One Year From Now
9. Walking by a Wire
10. Complicity
11. Evidence
12. Omerta
13. Inside the City of Glass

Ranking: #94 for 2003

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4
excellent

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Jorn van Schaïk CONTRIBUTOR (4.5)
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4.5
superb

whatduffhuck7 USER (7 Reviews)

2005-06-26 | 86 comments | 2,675 views

1 of 17 thought this review was well written

Katatonia- Viva emptiness

Viva emptiness is there latest realease and personally my favorite. its not nearly as heavy as there earlier material but shurly just as good, if not beter.
The album starts off with personaly my favorite song on the album. "ghost of the Sun" is 4:07 mins of greatness. the chorus is catchy as it gets. with the singing up front and the "I TRUSTED YOU" scream in the backround. then with the little guitar part, with the melo vocals in the backround. slows it down a bit there. i like how they went with the clean vocals becuase it really brings out the song. The backround vocals are done by drummer Daniel Liljekvist.if they just screamed and growld like in earlier albums this song would not be as good. 5/5

track #2 (Sleeper) starts out with clean guitar chords then mello's down when the vocals come in. i like the sliding power chord parts in this guitar, not that noticable but makes this song what it is. the chorus is not as good as ghost in the sun but still not bad. songs ending is slow but good. with him ending the song saying "you die now"
3.5/5

Track #3 (criminals) is another standout of this album. im guessing by the lyrics and the title the song is about criminals who go to far. the bass has a major roll and the chorus is when the guitars are in. i like how it changes pase so much. the chorus and pre chorus are much heavier than the rest of the song. there are not intrumental solo in this song like the first 2 but still a quality song 5/5

Track 4 (A Premonition) starts off slow and gradually builds up the power of the song. he uses the same 4 sentances of vocals for almost the whole song then hums and there is some kind of organ or something in the chorus. vocals are the stand out of this song. 4/5

Track #5 (Will I Arrive) starts out real heavy then tones down.for the vocals. this song again changes pace very often. this is supposed to be the stand out of the album but its not my favorite. it dosent have anything that makes it a great song. no catchy riff, no good solo's, no instrumentals... im not saying its bad, im just saying its not as good as reviewers say. heavier than most on the cd. still a quality song. 4/5

Track 6 (Burn the Remembrance) being the longest track on the cd at 5:22 this song couldnt be boring. which was not. starts out with a little solo and the base of the song is clean guitars but then the pre chorus and chorus are palm muted riffs. with some hammerons and pull offs. i liked the little fills this song has between riffs. after the fill then the sudden stop then the clean guitars, the guitarist use more effects then earlier in the song. more of a instrumental solo again. one of my favorite songs on the album. 5/5

Track 7 (Wealth) starts off with some pretty cool riffs then slows down once the singing comes in. this is one of the songs were i wish they would do a little screaming. the brutal guitars and the heavyness of the songs would be good for some brutal vocals.there is some screaming in the backround but you can barely hear them. they needed to turn that up IMO. one of the more heavier songs on the cd and i like heavyness so... 4.5/5

Track 8 (One Year From Now) starts out ultra slow with the piano and violen in the backround. its pretty slow then you think its done, then it gets heavy. with the same vocals from before with him saying "eerything i have i will give you, everything i owe, i will owe you" then after the heavyness goes back to the piano and guitar combo. descent song. 4/5

Track 9 (Walking By A Wire) starts out pretty heavy then slows down. the instrumental stands out. much more diversity in the vocals this song. he dosent just use the same lines over and over. i like the distortion guitar riffs. the clean guitar could be bettr but the distorted guitars are quality work. The chorus and then the banging guitar and drums right after rock this song. good song 4.5/5

Track 10 (omplicity) is a simaler song from the rest. the begining is a normal begining for katatonia and the middle takes off. the clean guitar with the wierd effect in the backround. then the distorted guitar with the catchy guitar riff. i like the change in pace with this song. the guitar and drumms all the sudden come in and get real heavy. 4.5/5

Track 11 (Evidence) starts off with a clean guitar riff with flanger. and the vocals have delay on them, good usage of effects. The chorus is a stand out. thats what makes this song good. you can really understand the vocals and the tones are great, not very complicated guitars but quality work. nothing needs to be changed IMO in this song. Great song and a stand out on the cd. 5/5

Track 12 (Omerta) vocal based song. might sound good with a acoustic actually. with the verse of him singing "do do do do" and nothing special on the guitars or drums until the little guitar solo at the end. nothing special. 3.5/5

Track 13 (Inside the City of Glass) this is all a intrumental. pretty good stuff to. havent listened to it before wrighting this review and like this song alot. 4/5

overall this album diservers a 4.5/5 my favorite album by katatonia and without brutal vocals, i ussually dig the death metal vocals but this album went well without. there earlyer stuff was more heavy but not nearly as melodic. if your gonna check you this band, get this album first. unless you like the heavyness. then this would be a bad choice. i compare this bad with opeth, some people strongly disagree with me but when i first herd them they reminded me of opeth. of course opeth basically have a genre of there own, but katatonia and opeth are good friends, member of opeth actually guest star in some of katatonia's records

recomended tracks:
Ghost Of The Sun
Criminals
Burn the Remembrance
Evidnece

hope this helped,
Al

EDIT: I took the freedom to add more pragraphs for easier reading - Damrod

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